Hungover postman torched letters

A POSTMAN set fire to hundreds of letters on the moors because he was too hungover to deliver them, a court heard. Aaron Heaney, 20, torched up to 400 letters and packages on Syke Moor near Rochdale because he was too afraid to tell bosses he had failed to do his round.

A POSTMAN set fire to hundreds of letters on the moors because he was too hungover to deliver them, a court heard.

Aaron Heaney, 20, torched up to 400 letters and packages on Syke Moor near Rochdale because he was too afraid to tell bosses he had failed to do his round.

Postcodes

Royal Mail investigators discovered his crime when a passer-by found the pile of post. They checked the postcodes on some of the unburned packaging and discovered they belonged to Heaney's round. When they later searched his home they found more than 80 packages in his car - including two special-delivery and two recorded-delivery packages.

Tearful

Heaney pleaded guilty to a charge of delaying 89 postal packages and to a charge of damaging a quantity of mail by fire when he appeared at Manchester magistrates' court yesterday. Monday A tearful Heaney told the bench: "I just panicked. I'm ashamed. I've very sorry for what I've done. Given the chance again, I probably would've spoken to the manager." The court was told that Heaney, of Croydon Avenue, Rochdale, had been hungover when he arrived for work at Middleton sorting office on March 28 this year.

'Foolish'

Joanne Stephens, prosecuting for Royal Mail, said: "He admitted he had been hungover and feeling very unwell. He had taken the mail to Syke Moor and had burned it. He thought he would get into trouble if he returned it." She said the pile of mail found on the moors was estimated to contain between 350 and 400 letters and packages. Emily Lomax, defending, said it was an 'unfortunate matter' and Heaney had been 'foolish'. She said he had been very unwell and his 'crashing error' was to go home with the post instead of returning it to the sorting office. She said his manager was away and had been replaced with another manager who was 'intimidating'.

Prison

He feared his job would be 'in jeopardy' if he admitted being sick. She said Heaney felt remorse for having gone onto the moor and setting fire to the post. She said he had not taken it for personal gain. Magistrates adjourned the case until Wednesday for probation reports. Heaney was told all sentencing options were being considered, including prison. Chairman of the bench George Webster told Heaney: "In the letters you did not deliver, there would probably have been appointments for people for hospital, which could have been dire for them." He added: "All these people had faith in you to deliver the mail. You let down not just you, but your family and all these people. If that happened to you or your family, you wouldn't be happy."